Pride before Fall
by Gwdihw
Summary: What if Mary had refused Pamuk's advances and turned him away? Just a funny, slightly self-indulgent little one-shot that I couldn't resist writing!


Mary drew a frightened breath and forced herself to focus. The exotic Turk standing before her who was demanding to have her was tempting in some ways: the situation reminded her more of a far-fetched novel that she would giggle over with her sisters than a real-life occurrence. Yet the tall and ridiculously handsome man who was now only inches from her was undeniably real. She wondered what a heroine would do in her place.

What Mary particularly didn't like about this situation was the lack of control she had over it. Of course, female protagonists never had control over anything more important that which dress they would wear that day, and they all seemed perfectly happy. But Mary bristled inwardly. Everything else in her life was being planned for her and she highly resented Kemal planning on them becoming lovers. Yes, he was beautiful, and he had promised that she would remain intact for her husband, even though Mary wasn't entirely sure what he meant by this. She was curious to know what he meant by 'a little imagination', but not curious enough to allow him to have his way with her. Was she?

She looked back into his eyes and anger flared up in her. His smooth cockiness was unbearable. He had already decided that she would yield to his charms as, Mary realised suddenly, many other young maidens most probably had.

'Get out,' Mary said coldly, with fresh conviction. 'If you take one more step towards me, it will not be as a lover but as a criminal.' The hardness of her words made him stop uneasily. Mary could see from his discomfort that he wasn't used to being told 'no', and while he may not have been a gentleman, he was not the sort of man to force himself on a woman.

'Very well,' he said. He had the grace to offer a small smile before he left, leaving Mary shaking with relief. She couldn't have imagined what would have happened if she'd hesitated a moment longer and she locked the door firmly behind him.

Kemal stood outside Mary's room for a few brief seconds, wondering what to do next while sulking intensely. He had allowed himself to get all worked up and now he didn't even have a young virgin to ravish. How disappointing!

He perked up suddenly, remembering that he had another option. The undeniably pretty footman whom he had been given had expressed a desire to give him a warmer than usual welcome to the country. Kemal tilted his head to one side thoughtfully. Now, he did tend to prefer being in bed with a lady, but he didn't prefer it by all that much. Considering that the only lady to which he had access had sent him away (which deeply and perhaps irrevocably hurt his pride), the footman was starting to seem rather appealing. He had, after all, only turned him down because he was so certain of being able to have Mary.

By this time, Kemal's eyes had become quite used to the gloom, and he made his way stealthily upstairs like the sex pest he was. He managed to find the corridor of the male staff fairly easily, and was pleased to see that the doors were conveniently named to allow him to find the man he wanted. Thomas: yes, that was his name. Not bothering to knock, he pushed the door open with bated breath.

Thomas, half way through changing into his nightclothes, froze. If there was anything that he expected less than seeing the Turk that he had so horrifyingly embarrassed himself with earlier, he could not think of it. Such a gorgeous figure in such fine clothing didn't even look as though it belonged standing in a servant's bare bedroom. Thomas wondered why he would possibly be there.

'Do you need assistance, Sir?' Thomas asked as politely as he could. Kemal stepped closer and Thomas noticed that the Turk's eyes were blazing with something that he wrongly identified as anger. He wondered whether Kemal would be carrying out his threat of informing the family of 'his behaviour' and started wildly thinking of ways he could scheme himself out of this one.

Then, Kemal kissed him and Thomas stopped thinking altogether.

'Now that you mention it, I'm in need of great assistance,' Kemal purred in his ear.

Thomas usually prided himself on his composure and ability to adapt to any circumstance, but at this moment he was gobsmacked. A part of him was rejoicing gleefully (and it would not be modest for him to admit which part of him that was), and simply wanted to be carried away in the moment. Another, more sensible, part of hi, was just too puzzled by the whole situation not to ask for clarification.

'Begging your pardon, Sir, but you're acting a bit hot and cold,' Thomas suggested, holding at bay his urge to plunge his hands into Kemal's sea of soft, brown hair. Kemal himself was proving quite adept at removing clothing and Thomas was amazed at the speed at which his clothes were disappearing from his body.

'I'm foreign and exotic, I'm allowed to be fickle,' Kemal said coyly.

'Yes, but earlier you looked, well, disgusted,' Thomas reminded, still not quite understanding. The fact that Kemal was pressing his body against his wasn't helping his train of thought either.

'Not _disgusted_, I just wasn't sure how the night was going to pan out at that point. But then Mary turned me away, so I decided-'

'What?' Thomas cut across coldly. The cold word wasn't so much a question as something to throw at Kemal. Thomas stiffened, and not in the good way.

'You ought to get back to your own room, Sir,' Thomas said in his quiet, evil voice which he had perfected. There was also a considerable amount of pride and self-confidence in his tone which Kemal didn't think he'd ever heard before in a servant's voice. This footman knew his worth.

'_I_ am nobody's _second choice_,' Thomas said with a deep sneer, pointing towards the door.

Too stunned to say anything else, Kemal scuttled off with his tail between his legs. Before that night, his advances had never been rejected, and he had just been rejected twice in half an hour. Was he losing his touch or was the Universe trying to tell him something? In any case, Kemal went to bed, didn't exert himself in any way, and woke up the next morning alive and bad-tempered.


End file.
